


The William McKinley Jazz Ensemble and The Terrible Mistake

by parsnips (trifles)



Series: Tumblr Treasures [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Gen, Humor, I just wanted to give them life, I'm not going to tag this original characters, Origin Story, because they're all in that backup band that never gets credit for anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 00:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8181893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trifles/pseuds/parsnips
Summary: Knowing Artie Abrams does not work in anyone's favor here.





	

The text message was short, to the point, and really unfortunate.

**need backup band omfg Journey nightmare help a brother in need, yo  
**

Marcus flopped his head back down against his pillow and wondered why, exactly, he’d ever given Artie Abrams his number. Particularly since Artie never actually made it to half the practices and was also really annoying about the whole pseudo-black thing.

Andy was sitting at Marcus’s desk, brows furrowed. He was reading one of Marcus’s 1970s MAD magazines instead of studying with him — which was fair, because up until a minute ago Marcus had been playing Plants vs. Zombies on his phone. “Who was it?” he asked, turning the page with grim finality.

Marcus blew out a breath. “Artie.”

Andy nodded without looking up. “The Extraneous A-Name,” Andy said. “Is he asking you to talk Mr. Harris on his behalf about rap classics?”

“No.” Marcus held his phone over his face and squinted. “He wants a backup band.”

His phone buzzed in his hands. Another text.

**wear black ok. also hats. very mj!**

“Oh my god. And now he wants us in costume.”

Andy closed the magazine and set it to one side. He looked lugubrious. He always looked lugubrious, which Marcus would feel worse about thinking if Andy hadn’t decided that the SAT training vocabulary list was his patronus or whatever and now actually self-identified as perpetually “exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful.” They’d been friends since they were five, but sometimes Marcus wondered about him.

On the other hand, Andy had never given him shit about Marcus’s awesome hair, so maybe he should just shut up and be grateful for the joy of friendship.

“Look,” Andy said, his eyes deep and brimming with terrible truths, “this is for his glee club thing, right?”

“Probably?”

“And what are the odds that if we get some of the band together for this ridiculousness he’ll stick with it and not bother Jazz anymore?”

Marcus weighed the odds. Mr. Harris, who played the piano for the group, had been looking more and more resigned recently — mostly after every time Artie asked for some Jay-Z. A depressed Mr. Harris was a silent Mr. Harris, which wasn’t terrible but wasn’t much fun either. Mostly, though, Marcus imagined a world in which Artie didn’t try to do guitar battles with him every. single. practice.

Marcus was overcome by a brief and glorious vision.

“If we make this the single best backup band performance ever,” he said slowly, “awesome enough to get the glee club started again and Artie out of way for the rest of high school…”

Andy sighed, a sound weighed with hollowed grief. “I’ll call the brass section.”

Marcus swung off his bed and clapped Andy on the shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said. “One performance, and we’re done for good.” He opened his closet and started looking for the black fedora, about a size too small, that he’d worn last Halloween. “I see no way,” he called out as Andy started dialling, “ _no way_ this can possibly go wrong.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on [tumblr](http://triflesandparsnips.tumblr.com/post/9472695509/william-mckinley-jazz-ensemble).


End file.
